A new report from government watchdog Accountable.US shows much stolen money was returned by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ‘Civil Penalty Fund’ for consumers in 10 states who fell victim to fraudulent or predatory financial industry behavior. The states highlighted in the report — AZ, KY, MI, MO, NC, NY, PA, SC, TX, WI — are represented in part by some of the most aggressive Congressional opponents of the CFPB, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC). The report spotlights the substantial donations these Republican lawmakers have taken from the financial industry that has spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying to weaken the CFPB since its inception. The industry’s goal: leave everyday families vulnerable to tricks, debt traps, discrimination, and outright scams from the likes of predatory lenders and greedy big banks.

[So what? The CFPB is not properly or constitutionally constructed, period. That’s the issue at hand. Their funding is outside of congressional control, and that is a constitutional non-starter. That is what a federal court ruled and what the Supreme Court will decide in the next term. Besides, the average return for one of the aforementioned states was “less than $42 a year to 0.48% of Michiganders,” as one of the targeted Republican House members noted. — Ed]